By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, March 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Hormone replacement therapy for women may not be as potentially risky as previously thought, a new Mayo Clinic review contends. The new study, which evaluated three decades of prior research, concluded that hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause doesn't increase overall risk of death or the risk of death from heart attack, stroke or cancer. "This is the latest update of the current evidence," said lead author Dr. Khalid Benkhadra, a research fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "I can say there's no risk of dying from any reason because a woman is taking hormone replacement therapy." The results, Benkhadra said, should allay concerns of some women with debilitating menopausal symptoms who have feared taking hormones. But not everyone is sold on the safety of hormone therapy. Heart and cancer doctors who reviewed the new findings said that hormone therapy should still be used sparingly on those most in need, until further research proves otherwise. "This study may provide some comfort that it shouldn't shorten your life, but it doesn't change the concern that the bad effects of hormone therapy are going to be an … Continue reading →

There's yet another study looking at the potential dangers of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms, and this one supports the notion that the treatment may not help women's hearts. The research, a review of collected data on the issue, found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) does not protect most postmenopausal women against heart disease and may even increase their risk of stroke. Also, the findings suggest that the harms and benefits of hormone therapy may vary depending on woman's age when she started the therapy, explained study lead author Dr. Henry Boardman, of the cardiovascular medicine department at the University of Oxford in England. "This 'Timing Hypothesis' may be the critical key to the use of HRT," agreed one expert, Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "For certain women who fit the criteria, being on HRT early in menopause may be beneficial, and the fear of taking it may be unfounded," said Steinbaum, who was not involved in the new study. The findings were published March 10 in the journal Cochrane Library. A woman's natural supply of estrogen diminishes after menopause, and HRT has been widely used to … Continue reading →

New evidence published today in the Cochrane Library shows that hormone replacement therapy does not protect post-menopausal women against cardiovascular disease, and may even cause an increased risk of stroke. HRT, now more commonly known as hormone therapy, is widely used for controlling menopausal symptoms. It has also been used for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in post-menopausal women. This latest evidence looked at the effects of using hormone therapy for at least six months and involved more than 40,000 women across the world. The length of time women were on treatment, varied across the trials from seven months to just over 10 years. Overall, the results showed no evidence that hormone therapy provides any protective effects against death from any cause, and specifically death from cardiovascular disease, non-fatal heart attacks or angina, either in healthy women or women with pre-existing heart disease. Instead the findings showed a small increased risk of stroke for post-menopausal women. The authors also explored how much of an effect there was of starting HRT earlier. They found some evidence that women who started treatment within the first 10 years of their menopause, when menopausal symptoms are most common, seem to have a small protection … Continue reading →

Hormone therapy for menopause not as risky, study says Hormone replacement therapy for women may not be as potentially risky as previously thought, a new Mayo Clinic review says. The new study, which evaluated three decades of prior research, concluded that hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause doesnt increase overall risk of death or the risk of death from heart attack, stroke or cancer. Concerns about the long-term safety of hormone therapy arose more than a decade ago when a large-scale federal study found that hormone therapy using estrogen and progestin increased a womans risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer, compared with placebo. Estrogen alone increased risk of blood clots and stroke, but made no difference in heart attack risk and had an uncertain effect on breast cancer. The new Mayo Clinic study, involving 52,000 women 50 or older, found that neither of the main hormone therapies affected a womans risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke or cancer. Heart and cancer doctors warned that hormone therapy should still be used sparingly pending further research. The findings were scheduled to be presented this month at the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society, in San … Continue reading →